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49. We Have Missed Many Good Opportunities As we have already mentioned, when we interacted with foreign countries we often suffered. But this was not because we did not have ample opportunities [to avoid getting hurt]. Rather, [we] failed to recognize, every time, the value of the opportunities that we had, and we missed them all. If we should fail to recognize how good the current opportunity is, nothing further can ever be done. In order to understand [what is at stake], let me present the following synopses of missed opportunities in the past: 1. We failed to stand up on our own after the year Pyŏngja [1636].87 There were several good opportunities afterwards; sage kings and wise generals intended, on occasion, to launch northern campaigns and built up armies to vindicate [Korea’s] honor.88 If the whole nation, both officials and the people, had been united in thought and action, it could have sent troops, when Ch’ing China was in peace and at ease, to occupy and stay in Liaotung [in southern Manchuria], build forts, and guard the border region; [at the same time] a letter could have been sent [to China] asking for an agreement that recognized Korea as a free nation of equal status. Many a time, China was in no position, for various reasons, to refuse [the Korean demand]. But the degenerate scholar-officials were disabled, intent on enjoying comfort, and incapable of planning revenge. They refused to hire men of ability for fear of losing their own power. Because of jealousy or in the process of partisan squabbles, they dismissed, slandered, or even eliminated loyal officials. If a boy had special talents or exceptional physical strength, his parents became too afraid to raise him and either killed him or maimed him by acupuncture, or moxa treatment . A man of special talent, therefore, always had to emigrate and 236 stay in a foreign country. This is like giving food to a thief or borrowing swords from an enemy country. How could [a nation] avoid deterioration [in such circumstances]? As [the nation] gradually weakens, the desire to depend on someone else becomes even more compelling. The opportunity we face now must not be wasted again as in the past. 2. More than forty years ago, another opportunity was lost. When Britain, France, and the United States came to us, one after another, asking for trade, [we] should have thought of comparing [ourselves] with foreign countries, given up being stubbornly wed to the past, and met [the westerners] face-to-face. We could have then ascertained in detail where their countries were located, how big, strong, and wealthy they were, and what their purposes were in asking for trade. If the trade appeared beneficial or inevitable, [we] should have promptly dispatched envoys to Britain, the United States, and so on, concluded treaties on our own volition, and declared [our] independence. Since the Chinese were afraid of the West, they would not have dared to protest. Even if China, confident of its strength, had resorted to military action, foreign powers would have wished to challenge it. This would not have been a case of our depending on someone else or asking for help. [Rather, the foreign powers] would have been driven by the circumstances and offered aid of their own free will. Truly, if [we] had not missed this opportunity, not only would [we] have escaped the troubles and the humiliation from which we suffer today, but we would also have already become a wealthy and strong nation whose assistance may have been requested by Japan and China. We failed. This was the second opportunity that we missed. 3. We failed to wake up after opening [the country] to foreign trade. Once [we] had learned the basic cause for China’s fear of the West, we should have abandoned our fear of China and replaced it with a fear of the West. After seeing how strong the West was, we should have tried to become strong by working hard daily to attain wealth, strength, and civilization. The common people would have enjoyed freedom while the nation enjoyed independence, and there would have been no dangerous situation at home while there would have been no worry over aggression from abroad. Had [we] become a good friend with foreign powers but an enemy to the wicked—and prepared to stop the latter—the Japan-China war would have become a Korea-China...

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